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That 3.15 ERA lies. He has 15BB/11K in 20IP and batters are hitting above .300 against him. And to top it off, this year lefties hit him almost as well as righties. I think the best a team can hope for is that he returns to getting out lefties like he did last year. How much is that worth? I am going to guess nothing. The Red Sox knew Timlin was coming back for a while. They had to be thinking about what to do and Romero was one of two likely to go. They had to have been shopping him around and found nothing.

Don't forget, he couldn't be dealt before June 15 without his permission, so they really haven't been able to freely shop him up to this point. Don't forget, also, that Seattle is run by Bavasi, so there's always hope of getting something for nothing.

"they will be able to get something (not much but something) in a trade for him"

To echo others, I'll believe that when I see it. I, too, would be happy if another team paid his salary (and I'm not even sure that will happen).

And I'd be happier about this if he wasn't being replaced by Mike "I've done a lot for this team but now I'm done and should clearly retire" Timlin. According to Gordon Edes (on the last Soxcast), Timlin really wants to get to 1,000 appearances. Which is a nice number and all, but can he really stomach coming into about 40 blowouts over the remainder of the season? I certainly hope he's not coming into close games, and Edes (to my surprise) made it sound like the Sox don't particularly want him pitching in those situations, either. I'm not sure whether he was basing that on conversations with anyone in the FO, or with Terry, or was just looking at the numbers and coming to his own conclusions.

You can also throw the Phillies into the mix, although I wouldn't expect to get much from Gillick.

Remember, Romero has been mediocre this year, not awful, and in recent years he has still been good at getting lefties out. The Red Sox are not getting rid of him because he's stinking it up, but because they've got a better loogy and are in a roster crunch. Someone will think he's worth a flier.

I don't care about who pays his contract because if the Sox have to pay it to get better return, I rather they do that.

I'd be really worried about their decision-making if they got rid of Pineiro before Romero. Just a few short months ago, they gave Pineiro a $4 mil. contract, meaning they thought he'd at least be a pretty good setup man. If only a couple months of his pitching has so changed their mind to the point where they think he's worthless, then they really aren't using sound judgment.

Darren, so you're saying that the fact that they're paying Pineiro $2.4 mil more means he should get a longer leash? I thought once a contract is signed it should be considered a sunk cost and any further decisions should only be based on baseball performance.

Darren, so you're saying that the fact that they're paying Pineiro $2.4 mil more means he should get a longer leash? I thought once a contract is signed it should be considered a sunk cost and any further decisions should only be based on baseball performance.

I think the point is more the reversal in judgment than the money itself. The position you seem to be criticizing is the one where the team holds on to a player regardless of how well they believe he can play because of his salary. I think Darren's point is that the Red Sox saw $4mm worth of potential in Pineiro as a setup man, and 2 months is not nearly enough to time confirm or disconfirm that suspicion. Unlike the first position, the second *does* take into account how well the team thinks he can play, albeit in the future, and merely based on speculation about what is to come.

Yes, what andrew said. A team shouldn't keep a player because they're paying him X dollars. I was saying that a team should also not think so highly of a guy that they commit $4 mil to him and then have their opinion changed so drastically in 2 months that they release him rather than send someone to the minors.

The other issue with Piniero, though, is that they almost certainly couldn't get anything for him. He costs too much, his numbers are superficially worse (though his peripherals are a little bit better) and he's righthanded.

I've been persuaded that the Sox will at least get Romero's salary paid. If they thought Romero was, in fact, better than Piniero than that should not be enough to make the decision-- though a fringy prospect might be enough, since you're talking about the last guy out of the pen. But I suspect they still see more potential in Piniero, even if their hopes are fading.

Pre-All-Star Timlin 06: 31.1 IP 32H 1 HR 9 BB (2 IBB) 18 K 2.59 ERA, then he was hurt in the second half. That's pretty much what we've come to expect of him, and would be a great addition to the current pen.

At Timlin's age, though, it's reasonable to suspect that he will not be able to both recover fully from the injuries that set in mid-way through last year and have continued more or less until the present and recover the form he displayed for a few months last year.

That said, I assume he's battling with Donnelly for the third or fourth spot in the bullpen, and Donnelly's been uninspiring. I think Breslow or Delcarmen might be more effective in that spot, but I suppose it's reasonable to give Timlin one last shot at it.

I hope that his question for 1,000 appearances doesn't get into Francona's head and cause Terry to throw him out there in a questionable situation. But Francona's done a very good job with the bullpen so far, so I suppose he gets the benefit of the doubt at this point.

Timlin has a slightly better track record than Romero, or at least he was terrible for a shorter period of time. While Romero hans't been atrocious this year, he was last year, and will probably be lousy in the future. Timlin was ok last year, and lousy this year, but he has the excuse of being hurt/coming back from injury. They'll give Timlin a ton of time to be crappy. Not that I necessarily agree with it, but I'm sure they'll send Delcarmen back down when Donnelly comes back.